| Summary: | Author is Lardil man from Mornington Island; comments on conception beliefs, birth, food plants, camp life, Creation myth, myths on origin of death, Thuwathu the Rainbow Serpent, marriage rules, relations with Mission staff, hunting & fishing, stellar myths, dugong hunting, wild bee myth; initiation myth, describes initiation ceremony, subincision, secret Damin language; flood ceremony, 22 lines of rain stopping song (with free translation), story of Warrenby, sorcery and sorcerers, clay as medicine, love magic, moon legend, death & mourning, burial, inquest, spirit beliefs; relations with Bentinck Island (Kaiadilt) people, stories of early settlement of Sweers Island; work on cattle stations & as deckhand, encouragement to work on bark paintings; notes expeditions with P. Trezise to find rock paintings, Cooktown area; short glossary of Lardil words (c.19 terms).
Dick Roughsey was an Australian Aboriginal artist from the Lardil language group on Mornington Island in the south-eastern Gulf of Carpentaria Queensland. His tribal name was Goobalathaldin meaning 'the ocean dancing' describing a 'rough sea'. He was an active and prominent figure involved in reviving and preserving the cultural life of the Lardil people. His best known works are a series of children's picture books that retell traditional Aboriginal stories including "The Rainbow Serpent".
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